Trying out different recipes for spiced nuts. Brought back a variety of Italian bitter liquors from our recent trip and while there had Cynar and home made Gentsiana served with some dry roasted almonds that were killers with the liquors. So far have tried a roasted hazelnut with thyme and a pecan with brown sugar, smoked paprika, tobasco, worchestershire, cinnamon. The former, not enough punch. The latter too much like a dessert. Both too fatty - olive oil or butter Do you make any cocktail nuts or have suggestions for a dry prepped savory nut concotion ?

I'm a big fan of this for the aperitif because it's easy and that always helps when doing a dinner party. For whatever reason I often do cashews or almonds, sauteed in olive oil, and then some sort of spice (often tumeric, cumin, or curry powder), and then adding a nice salt afterwards is always welcome. Pretty simple, but this type of thing is very easy to eat (and pair with wine).

Some years back, we were in Manhattan with friends walking around -- we were at Union Square, and we wanted to get drinks, it was too early for supper. So we stopped in at the Union Square Café which has a good bar. And as we were sipping the drinks the bartender put out a hot bowl of nuts. Totally addictive. Fortunately it's not hard to find the recipe and Nigella Lawson has published one version.

My wife does spiced nuts quite often. They're quick and easy to put together and are a nice thing to bring to a dinner or a cocktail get-together. She most often uses pecans, but will do almonds as well. I believe she's used the Nigella Lawson recipe Frank posted as well as some others. They really are addictive.

Frank Deis wrote:Some years back, we were in Manhattan with friends walking around -- we were at Union Square, and we wanted to get drinks, it was too early for supper. So we stopped in at the Union Square Café which has a good bar. And as we were sipping the drinks the bartender put out a hot bowl of nuts. Totally addictive. Fortunately it's not hard to find the recipe and Nigella Lawson has published one version.

Jenise, somehow with that recipe the sum is greater than the parts -- it's kind of like the rosemary has an amplifying effect on the other flavors. Of course the warm butter and salt coax every bit of flavor out of the nuts, and the sugar and cayenne amplify in other dimensions. I may have even bought the Union Square Cafe cookbook but I don't remember for sure. It's so much easier to find on the internet than in my books...

Eyeballing it, the difference between the Nigella Lawson version and Union Square Cafe's would be that the USC suggests you blanch and peel several of the nuts. Which is not a neccessity, but a nice refinement. I recall doing a big batch once for a party and leaving them on the counter to 'dry' while I went shopping. When I got home much later, I'll forever remember that there was Bob saying "I don't know what kind of nuts those you left for me were, but they were great!"

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Well, everything is "peeled" except the almonds. In fact you made me look for my Union Square Cookbook. It didn't show up in a 10 minute search which means it may be up in the attic. I might go up when it's not 120˚ F up there...

OK -- on Amazon's "look inside" luckily the original recipe is there, inside the Union Square Cafe cookbook. Kosher salt instead of Maldon but otherwise, take a look:

I'd like to make these spiced nuts for an event, on the 29th and 30th. How far ahead can I make them without loosing quality of taste and texture? Keeping in mind they will be put into a glass container with a tight lid, once cooled. I don't think I have ever made spiced nuts, only sugared to be used the same day.

Specifically for the Union Square recipe, I don't think there is any way around doing it "live" when they are about to be served. You can assemble the ingredients days in advance and store them, but hot buttered nuts fresh out of the oven can't be beat, and putting hot nuts into a glass jar = soggy nuts.

Frank Deis wrote:Specifically for the Union Square recipe, I don't think there is any way around doing it "live" when they are about to be served. You can assemble the ingredients days in advance and store them, but hot buttered nuts fresh out of the oven can't be beat, and putting hot nuts into a glass jar = soggy nuts.

I stated above that they would be put into a glass jar, once cooled. So you don't think they will keep well? I was trying to avoid heating up the kitchen on a hot day, but I could crank up the A/C in that area!

Frank Deis wrote:Specifically for the Union Square recipe, I don't think there is any way around doing it "live" when they are about to be served. You can assemble the ingredients days in advance and store them, but hot buttered nuts fresh out of the oven can't be beat, and putting hot nuts into a glass jar = soggy nuts.

I stated above that they would be put into a glass jar, once cooled. So you don't think they will keep well? I was trying to avoid heating up the kitchen on a hot day, but I could crank up the A/C in that area!

Nope. There's too much moisture. They're not candied, the result isn't a hard/brittle sugar coating.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

I made a kind of spicy almonds with cocoa powder and cinnamon from Daisy Cooks, and those darn things are eternal. I found a jar a couple of years after I made them and they were perfect. Of course I don't think that is a flavor you would be aiming for. If you want a recipe I am quite sure I can find it.

Karen/NoCA wrote:Frank, you are correct, not the flavor I was looking for....thanks, I will just have everything ready to pop them in the oven. It is doable.

FWIW, I always sauté my spiced nuts and it works just fine.

So you would take the recipe we are talking about and sauté, rather than oven cooking?

Well my 'recipe' was always for sauteeing, and yes, although I haven't done a controlled comparison I don't see why you couldn't do the other one with either a dry saute and then the butter etc. at the end, or saute with butter and then add the other ingredients at the end/as you see fit.